U.S. Open Champ Moody Dies

Orville "Sarge" Moody, winner of the 1969 U.S. Open, has died at the age of 74.

Moody, nicknamed "Sarge" because he spent 14 years in the Army, was renowned as one of the best ballstrikers of his day on the PGA Tour. Alas, he was also one of the worst putters. And the 1969 U.S. Open win was the only win of his PGA Tour career, ranking Moody as one of the biggest surprise winners of a major championship.

Moody was the son of a golf course superintendent in Oklahoma, and won the Oklahoma state high school championship. He left college and enrolled in the Army, and wound up running Army golf courses in Japan, Korea, Germany and the U.S. before deciding to give the professional tour a try.

While putting problems kept his PGA Tour success modest, he switched to a long putter later in life and went on to win 11 times on the Champions Tour.

Moody also has the distinction of being the last person to make it through both local and sectional qualifying and then win the U.S. Open.

The PGA Tour's news release about Moody's death is below the fold.

Orville Moody, the 1969 U.S. Open winner who later won the 1989 U.S. Senior Open, died August 8 in Texas. He was 74.

Moody won the U.S. Open in his second full season on the PGA Tour in what turned out to be his lone Tour title. In his career, Moody, a part Choctaw Indian nicknamed “Sarge” because of his U.S. Army career, played 250 Tour events. Besides his one victory, he was a runner-up at five other tournaments. He also won international titles in Hong Kong, Morocco and Australia.

After turning 50, Moody’s career took off at the same time he solved many of his putting woes when he began using an elongated putter. The native of Chickasha, OK, won 11 Champions Tour tournaments and finished in the top five four times, including his second-place finish on the earnings chart in 1989. Besides his U.S. Senior Open title, he also won the Mazda Senior Tournament Players Championship. That year he made $647,985.

Overall, Moody played 513 Champions Tour events, with his final appearance coming at the 2003 Constellation Energy Classic. He last played in the unofficial Demaret Division for players 70 and older at the 2007 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with long-time partner Jimmy Powell.

"We are all going to miss 'Sarge' who was a patriot first and a professional golfer second," said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. "He embodied a bit of golf's everyman whom we all could identify with, having risen from his Oklahoma roots as part Native American (Choctaw Indian) and serving his country in a 14-year Army career. He will always be remembered for winning the 1969 U.S. Open, the last player to win after being in local and sectional qualifying. Orville later added a U.S. Senior Open to his resume in a successful Champions Tour career. Our thoughts go out to his family and our membership mourns his loss, yet we take solace that his legacy will inspire generations to come."

Memorial services are pending.